I Pretend it's Red Wine
by VampDove
Summary: After leaving the Team, he found out too late he had brain damage. Then they found him, took pity, made him like them. Vampire. Now, he has a new world, new family, and he wouldn't, can't, give it up. Go back, he's a monster. He was content with being dead to the world. Then, a next-gen Team member gets bitten, and he meets (alive) Wally's baby daughter. He's 'an imaginary friend'.
1. Thy Beginning

**Chapter I:**

**Thy Beginning**

* * *

><p><strong>South Carolina Coast<strong>

**15 September 2016**

**18:45 EST (6:45)**

The abandoned house near the South Carolina coast was run down, beaten up to near nonexistence, the frame and only three walls remained, the boards all lined up with sun poking through the cracks. It was hidden in a thicket of trees, missing from the world, and supposedly no one even knew of it's existence.

Richard guessed at least

He was lying on his back, on a flat rock that made a sort of back rest near a door frame. He looked up at the heated hintings of sunset. The cicadas buzzed in the trees, and the wind flowed through the house's skeleton. It would've been pleasant.

_Would've_.

To him it felt like there was a bomb inside his head, going off every half a second. His vision was blurry, and he could barely move. He couldn't even cry out, it was like no part of his body would follow his commands. The headaches had been going on for the past months, around the time is friend Kaldur had first gone undercover. He thought it had been due to sleep deprivation, made from all the stress. It the end, he should have told someone. It wasn't a headache, it was brain damage.

He should have said goodbye to everyone. He had suspected this, Bruce had probably guessed that it had it had come to this too. But Richard had just pushed them all away, after Wally's death he had just wanted to get rid of it all, he wanted nothing left to do with the world. He should have tried to stay alive though.

The former romanian circus gypsy took a raspy breath, losing control of his lungs. A single silent tear traced his cheek.

_"La revedere , toată lumea . Ai fost cel mai bun familiei aș fi putut cere," _he whispered in cracked breaths.

_Goodbye, everyone. You were the best family I could have asked for._

He came to that realization five seconds before the black.

…..

The playful vampiress girl had hooded gray eyes. Her silky, curly, brown hair was worn in a style that would remind you of a tumbleweed ponytail. She was short, young, looked as if she were merely seven, and had a thin build. Her skin was a dark hazelnut, and the faintest trace of freckles flecked her dark cheeks.

This unusual young vampiress was used to the stares given to her as she walked. In aspects of clothing, her knitted elbow sleeve length green sweater, ripped jeans, and bare feet would have blended in to this quiet southern town in September, but her stand out bushy hair with her massive bush of curls made her different, alienated. The vampiress bended the vampiric taboo/rule (she did quite get it) of being noticeable, but merely for entertainment. WIth youth comes foolish courage.

Her name was Avery, and she had been a vampire since birth. She had run away from her home when she was seven, her family wasn't abusive, but they never interacted with their own growing vampire daughter. After a year on the streets when she had toured Gotham's slums, she had run into another vampiress whom Avery had befriended over the course of more months, Ms. Cheryl Ambrose. Cheryl offered her a home, love, affection, but with a cost.

Avery would have had to become one of Cheryl's coven of vampires.

There was no real cost to being one of Cheryl's vampires. She received home and family. She would grow up as a born vampire child, learn the culture, government, and customs.

The child took the offer.

The Ambrose coven only consisted of Cheryl and Avery. The two became family, Cheryl the overprotective mother and Avery the shy (secretly rebellious) daughter.

Now, Avery walked by the house skeleton, playing among the empty rooms with her imaginary friends. She wanted to play in the rock room, where the rock rest was. She liked the warm feeling it gave in the afternoons.

There was a dead man lying there.

She was only eight years old, and she did not know the abilities she possessed because of what she had grown into, but she knew she had to do something. Cheryl had sent her here for absolutely no purpose, she had only sent her blood-daughter here to enjoy herself while Cheryl was out hunting. She hadn't said that Avery couldn't _**not**_ do anything.

The shy little girl got on her knees, her ripped jeans exposing her legs to the clay dirt, her green elbow length sweater sleeves getting sprayed with the flecks of earth. She gently held the man's face with her small delicate hands cupping his cheeks. Aunt Cheryl had told her eating from a dead body was scavenging, she had firmly told the girl they were not vultures. Avery knew this and only studied the ebony haired man's face, not a move made toward his still flowing blood. The man was dressed okay, plain white tee, khaki cargo shorts, brown sandals. The girl guessed he must've died of some internal or brain condition, at least that was how he smelled. She studied him, looking down at the body.

She was terrified when a single faint heartbeat echoed in her vampiric heightened hearing.

Avery listened, and after more than enough time, the man's weak heartbeat was heard again. The hazelnut girl quivered, wondering what to do. Should she leave him here? No, she shouldn't do that. Quick dispatch? Waste a meal, and even then the girl was not allowed to kill.

But, Avery didn't know how to feed from the source. Cheryl always brought home food, either a cup of blood or regular groceries. The little vampiress didn't know what she should do.

Her stomach growled.

Avery debated with herself, still holding the comatose man's head. She was hungry, but she had always been fed, never having gone out and hunted for her meals.

"Good find love bug", said the English accented voice.

Cheryl Embrose was a cunning vampiress with almond-shaped slate-gray eyes. Her silky, wavy, orange and blonde hair worn in a style that was often intricate and braided, plus she had a gracefully built body. Her skin was nearly china doll white and she inadvertently produced a great amount of respect for herself with her presence. The very regal vampiress stood before her blood daughter.

Cheryl came next to pupil wearing a long yellow dress that ended at her ankles, barefoot like her daughter. Her almost teenager-like face would have caused a great confusion, as if skin color didn't do it already.

"It's come about time I teach you", Cheryl mused. She strolled over to the left side of the unconscious man and planted herself in the dirt.

Cheryl turned the man's head just slightly so his neck was exposed to a very flustered little eight year old girl. Cheryl brushed off the girl's apparent lack of eagerness. She pointed to two certain spots on the man's neck with her delicate fingertips.

"Right here, okay baby?" Cheryl pointed, looking up at her girl. In response, the daughter nodded nervously.

Avery looked at the spot on the man's neck, seeing a flash of his weak pulse. The girl leaned down, and as she did this she felt her fangs lengthen, just like they always when she ate. She looked over her target area. She would bite. She had to learn. Cheryl didn't need to show her, it was instinct.

Avery looked down, and then, in a swift motion, her fangs pierced the skin.

Richard was pulled out of the black by the oddest sensation in his neck. At first, it felt like fire, two sparks on his skin with the strength of a wildfire. Then, the piercing of the needles in the two spots. It penetrated deep into his flesh, tearing the blood vessels that began leaking the blood that now slowly moved through his veins. It felt like a cooling sensation being released to his neck. It numbed him, paralyzed what little control he had left of his body.

The cooling spread throught Richard's body like a web. It felt nice, calm, serene even. The spot where his skin had been pierced was warm and steadying the flow of the cool.

The injured bird was at peace, until the needles retracted. Whatever it was had let go, and the cool stopped. He didn't want it to, though. He tried to shudder his paralyzed body as something traced over his throat. It hurt slightly, like a paper cut. It wasn't right...

With the cold receding, Dick became more of aware of everything and, well, him. Where was he? He tried to desperately move. What were these restraints? Nothing material, physical. Why...why was it gone?

He mentally struggled, trying to move, trying to see. He struggled and mentally cried out, and..finally. He opened his eyes.

A woman with grey eyes was looking at him intently, observing him. She had blonde orange traced hair, and pale porcelain skin. The lady was tracing over Dick's neck with a hungry stare.

"Poor baby, let me take away the pain ", she whispered, tracing Dick's neck, cutting it with her nail. The remaining blood flowed out like water from a rock. The woman's eyes turned red, glowing.

Dick looked at her paralyzed with wide eyes and sharp breaths. He was going to die, but...he didn't care? Dying meant Wally, his parents, his family. It meant leaving the unfair world. Why was he thinking like this? He didn't want to know . He faced the ginger haired woman, staring back at her with not a hint of pain or sadness.

She wouldn't have this.

The woman slowly took her delicate antique doll hands and knees placed them on the two puncture wounds. It burned like hell to Dick, but then he felt like something was there. Different than Martian telepathy, but the woman was there.

Who would have thought that Richard Grayson was Nightwing?

Richard inhaled sharply, staring the woman down with a deadly glare, to no effect. At that moment, he became aware of a little girl to his left, where the woman's hands were. Richard turned his eyes, and looked at the girl. He turned to her with her pleading eyes.

The girl had bloodied mouth, white fangs on her bottom lip. She hung her head.

"Just listen to Aunt Cheryl", she whispered. "It's better that way".

The former hero looked at the girl with horror. This wasn't real. He had blood loss, he was hallucinating. His brain injuries, _Oh God the stupid swelling, _were doing this.

The woman now identified as Cheryl turned to the girl, then back to Richard. She looked as if thinking, fingernails still digging into the wound.

"In an American family, a typical one I believe, there is usually the child, the woman, and the man. I do believe our coven is missing one of these three", Cheryl said, fingers drawing out of bite.

Cheryl gently picked up Richard's head and turned it so his neck was exposed. The girl, now looking at Cheryl with surprise, backed away as the woman with the yellow dress came to Richard's left. She sat down at the side of the rock, leaning against it for support.

Cheryl leaned down so her face was in front of Richard's own. She smiled, her eyes coming back to grey. "You still have great things to do in your life, I see it. I can't let you die".

Cheryl held his face up to the sky, his full neck flesh being exposed. Cheryl opened her mouth, fangs growing. Her jaw bigger than the girl's, her puncture wound was far larger.

Her bite was calculated, quick, easily sliding into the flesh with barely a prick. Richard let out a sharp groan, because instead of cool there was an intense burning. His blue eyes found the little girl's grey.

She was looking at Cheryl with awe.

The burning ended, but Cheryl's soft lips still sucked the life out of him. The world became blurry, he was numbing up.

Then Cheryl released, placing her lips on a new target. Richard's own lips.

Richard couldn't push her off, he sat through it. His own scarlet red life staining his mouth, Cheryl's fangs ripped her lips and her own vampiric blood going down Richard's throat.

The ice started biting.

As the blood rushed down his throat, it felt like all his organs had frozen and shattered. It felt like the shards were cracking his insides, puncturing everything. He winced and tried to scream. He felt his mouth burn, his teeth growing and sharpening with excruciating pain. His eyes burned, his vision sharpened. His swelling brain stopped pulsing.

Again Cheryl's fangs and blood ravaged Richard's mouth, but his paralyzing state ended. Something took over Richard's senses. He grabbed Cheryl's shoulders and pushed her away. He picked himself up and slammed Cheryl into the ground as she squealed slightly in pain. Richard held her down as his thirsty glowing red eyes stared down Cheryl's, his inner struggle for control waning.

"What...have...you...done...to...me?" He said between heavy breaths, fangs ripping apart his lips.

The little girl had run out of the room in fear the moment Dick was bit. Now, Cheryl looked at his eyes, a touch of fear in her own. "I have never seen even a once human vampire as strong as you".

Richard growled, and lost the battle. He slowly leaned down and and pulled Cheryl up, but kept her firmly in his grip. He leaned down to her exposed porcelain neck, although he desperately was trying to get away.

He leaned down to her neck, running his tongue over the spot where he envisioned biting. Cheryl shuddered, trying to push him off still. Richard unwillingly chuckled at her attempts.

...

He looked up at her, red eyes to her grey eyes. Even in his newly turned state, he recognized Cheryl as his creator, his master.

Cheryl looked up at her newly turned servant. Seeing his eyes, a partner wasn't possible. His eyes showed hatred she knew would dim, but romantic love wouldn't grow there. He would not be a lover, but perhaps a brother. He could still be a father to Avery though, no matter what it was.

Her very first human turned vampire frightened her deeply. Only a pureblood vampire could turn a human into her kind. She had never done this, she had seen others though, but she knew a new vampire shouldn't be as strong as this. He shouldn't overpower his maker when only begging for first blood.

Cheryl looked up at her new member of her coven, the ability to control him still out of reach. She a gave small nod of constent as his new fangs plunging through her skin, her scarlet blood staining her favorite dress

_This was thy beginning_.


	2. Memories

**Chapter ii:**

**Memories**

* * *

><p><strong>January 2017<strong>

"Doing okay?" Cheryl said opening the door to Richard's room in her beachfront home, knocking on the door while opening it slightly. Richard, sitting on the edge of his bed by his moonlit window, turned around and faced the door, his eyes slightly glowing a trance-like blue in the dark. He growled slightly at her, before turning back to the window again.

Cheryl sighed and walked into the room, closing the door shut behind her. She sat herself neatly at the opposite side of the bed, studying her creation. She reached out her hand to his shoulder, which made him shudder at her touch, although unable to pull away from his leader's grip, her control growing.

"You ask me if I'm okay like you're concerned about me", Richard spat. "You have taken away my will, my life. It's not like I'm going to get into trouble".

Cheryl sighed and squeezed Richard's shoulder, although Richard shuddered and tried, _tried, _to pull away. Cheryl had him in her complete control. She had kept him on a tight leash, hardly giving him a choice of his own account. Richard was watched over by her at all times, his diet was even monitored. Cheryl had been completely controlling, she chastised him, held a firm grip on him at all times, used disciplinary action against him when necessary, and always had him in her sight. After more than four months, he was still only allowed free in the house. Richard had lost only a bit of his resentment toward Cheryl, while his relationship with Avery became the most important thing in his world. He spent most of his time with her, enjoying her company, teaching her snippets of Romanian. Avery called him Uncle.

He despised Cheryl, though.

The vampire had taught him everything he knew about what he had become. They were secretive, and hidden from the human world. They didn't get burned, or repelled by common techniques like garlic or holy water. They were almost always the public's definition of beautiful, Richard had even noticed his scars fading and blemishes clearing up. He'd learned vampires were ruled by a group of nobles and purebloods, hardly a democracy. Nobles and Purebloods had special powers, inherited traits, Cheryl could walk through walls and communicate through previous physical contact. Avery was average, in the best way.

Cheryl had taken everything from Richard. He couldn't return to his family. He was a monster that needed to harm innocents to survive, something Richard had promised never to do. He was a freak, a demon. He could never return to the Team, to his family, God knows they would've never accepted him. He could never leave Cheryl though, it was like his short stay with his coven had created some unbreakable bond. If he left, he knew part of him would die. He was one with the bloodsuckers. Plus, leaving would put the heroes in dangerous waters, Cheryl knew everything.

"Your hungry", Cheryl observed.

Richard shook his head. He didn't want her near him, but her control was too strong. She leaned towards him, pulling closer to her. She held out her arm, Richard able to hear the soft beating in her veins that was all too sickening.

"No."

"You need to eat."

"I said no!"

"You need to eat, little bird".

"JUST SHUT UP!"

The window glass shattered, glass falling on the floor the room, the small greenish shards glinting in their newfound seats. Richard looked at all the little gems, unsure if he had caused the shattering or if Cheryl had. The blonde/ginger English vampire looked at him with an almost poker face, although her eyes betrayed her, showing something going on inside her thoughts.

Cheryl slowly inched closer until she was just next to Richard. She took her neck and turned so it was fully exposed to Richard. He tried to resist, but the scent of AB - was sickening. Richard huffed a long annoyed sigh, then slowly rested his head on Cheryl's collarbone. Cheryl smiled.

"You are learning, Richard. Ask for everything. I know you hate my rules now, but I have to break you in to our ways. One day, I'll have no more control over you, and you'll be your own person again, but for now, you must learn", Cheryl whispered. Richard lifted his head and nosed his way to the exposed neck flesh, fangs growing, anger filling his mind. He knew what Cheryl was.

Cheryl was a monster.

* * *

><p><strong>July 4<strong>**th****, 2017**

"Richard?" Cheryl called as she made her way down the stairs in a leaf green dress and a tan backpack over her shoulder.

Richard was sitting in the corner of the tan single couch in the living room, Avery in his lap, content on messing with his messy black hair. Richard looked up at the devil woman with narrowed eyes, while Avery giggled, getting another grip of the thick mass of coal colored grass.

"What do you want?" Richard hissed.

Cheryl sighed, putting her backpack next to the door. She walked over and leaned on the couch, Richard turning his head away. She sighed.

"Listen. I'm going on a political, um, _visitation_ to another group of pureblood vampires for a 4th July _adult _party. I'm not going to be here for the fireworks," Cheryl turned to the former Boy Wonder," But Avery loves them, so I'm going give you, Richard, free will this one day, I know its special to you".

Avery's excited face beamed as she jumped off the couch. "I get to take Richard to the beach? I don't want to go to the beach though. Can we watch on top of the barn? Richard's a ninja, I'll be safe on top of the roof!"

Cheryl rolled her eyes, and turned to a stunned Richard, who was surprised of the fact of being left alone by the overprotective woman. He was still looking at her with wide eyes, then pointed at himself, snorting, and said, "Leave me with an eight year old? Alone? Unsupervised? Allowed to leave the house?" Richard asked, eyes wide and awed.

Cheryl nodded. She turned back to Avery. "Why don't you go get your new dress I bought you?" Cheryl told Avery, watching the girl squeal and run up the stairs to her room, curls bouncing. The older woman then tuned to Richard, looking at him with expectant eyes.

"Interrogate me. You know you want to".

Richard laughed dryly. "Fine, why the sudden leave?"

Cheryl smiled sadly. "I have found the opportunity to basically...how to explain it?..._invest,_ in a rising noble vampiric family. Really, they have been playing a dangerous strategic game, placing their pieces in the right places, although with subtlety, humbly, and carefully coordinated for centuries. It's paid off they're rising up what we would call rather quickly in the vampire world, although I seem to be the only one to notice this. My family name, the Embrose, is actually rather high up in our politics, and I felt I would rather have this large group of nobility as an ally than an enemy. Hence, my family's eldest and wisest members had come to the agreement to make friendly with the new family. They're this lovely French family, the Prodeux. They're such a lovely group of blondes".

Richard raised an eyebrow, questioning her explanation. "Make friendly an ally how?"

Cheryl took a deep breath. "I'm going to raise one of the heirs of that coven. A Prodeux woman was pregnant by a Prodeux heir/son, and eventually had the next leader of the Prodeux family's heir. However, she died in childbirth. They have no female vampires able to care for the infant, so my family offered up me."

Richard would've done a spit take if he'd had enough spit.

"What, I mean just like that? No background checking or whatever?" he said in disbelief.

"I kind of need to do this. I'm kind of a black sheep in my family for having you and taking on Avery. This will help everything smoothen out", Cheryl answered. She fixed her hair in the mirror and made her way to the door.

"Stay safe okay?" Cheryl said closing the door behind her.

She left without a single hint of hesitation and closed the door with such ease. Richard didn't know how she did this, leaving him alone here with a little eight-year-old girl, with complete free will and no supervision. After almost 8 months this woman finally trusted him alone, without even the smallest fear of leaving him alone in finding him gone the next day? Richard had to admit it, this woman had guts.

* * *

><p>How he hadn't escaped yet, wouldn't ever know. He was on the roof now with Avery looking at all the fireworks in the sky, the last one just beginning to erupt in the pitch black sky with only the holes of the stars to light the way. last firework was big, blue, and loud. The last fate traces of its smoke with us were still in the sky with a return to Richard and said,"Why are you so angry at Cheryl?"<p>

The girl saw Richard's surprised face as he turned to her, and her own grey eyes met his blue.

"Why don't you care about Cheryl? She has done everything for you. You won't even be here right now looking at the fireworks with me if it weren't for her, you would be 6 feet under ground. They probably wouldn't have even found your body and you would be still in that broken down house spread out on that rock, your bones still rotting in the sun. I know I'm only eight years old, but I know that you have to respect your elders. Don't think that this is easy for Cheryl. She cares for you like a brother but you constantly push her away and tear at her emotions. She cares about you so much, but you hate her the same. I'm only eight, but I may sound just a little bit older, and now I know that you have to respect what, Cheryl has done for you."

"Avery, you are only eight years old. How are you supposed to know how complicated my life is right now? You don't, you don't have any experience what I'm going through right now. You have been born this way, raised this way, but I am an alien. If it weren't for Cheryl, I wouldn't be torn apart from my family. I had brothers, a father, a grandfather figure, and a best friend who have all been taken away from me now. Who do you expect me to be mad at?" Richard nearly yelled her.

"I don't want you to be mad at anyone. I just want you to know that Cheryl does everything to people because it's what thinks is good. Cheryl did something good for you and you have to 'preciate it. Without her I wouldn't have a great uncle like you", she said through tears.

* * *

><p><strong>July 7 2016<strong>

Cheryl walked up the steps has quietly as she could in the dark morning hours, but Richard was still in the door frame of his room, looking at her with narrow eyes as she walked down the hall.

"So you didn't run away", she said.

Richard shook his head. "I have better things to do."

He walked out of the door frame, and Cheryl thought that he was going to head down stairs, but walked right up to her. Right when she thought she was going to have to step back, he leaned down and wrapped her in a giant hug.

"I'm sorry I've been acting like a jerk. I'm sorry I've been acting like a jerk for a eight whole months."

"You Don't have to be forgiven. I don't work like that, but I do accept hug apologies."

"I'm sorry _Cher_."

"Glad you're happy. Now, the baby is in the spare bedroom. Want to see him?"

* * *

><p>Richard watched as Cheryl sat on the couch with the two hour old infant in her arms, a little boy. The adorable little blonde baby was snoozing comfortably in the crook of Cheryl's arm. Cheryl had insisted on going to the living room to show Avery.<p>

"What's his name Auntie?" Avery asked.

"This is little Noah", Cheryl whispered to the bundle of blankets in her arms.

Although Richard would never admit it, that baby looked pretty darn cute.

* * *

><p><strong>December 2018<strong>

"Come on! You're not going to be late for my ballet class for the third time this month!" Avery yelled up the stairs.

"I don't see why have to come and watch you, you're already such a good dancer, and your vampire abilities make it even easier." Richard yelled back.

"But today will be the first time I can actually stand on my toes! You need to come and watch me and you need to take pictures like all the other parents do."

"I will be every other parent except that one", Richard laughed.

"Just come and smile".

"I have too much experience with that".

* * *

><p><strong>June 2019<strong>

"Cheryl! Noah has stuck out to the beach again! You seriously need to get child locks on your doors."

"Considering what you have been teaching him, and the kind of uncle you are, he probably already knows how to pick a lock."

* * *

><p><strong>August 2020<strong>

"Isn't middle school the worst years of your life?" Avery asked

"It depends on who you are and what kind of friends you have. If you have any backstabbing boyfriends or any turn on you girlfriends, I will eat them, I will kill them, and I will hide their bodies where they will never be found. The young ones taste the best", Richard said a little too happily.

"You're like my own personal psychopath".

"I take that compliment joyously."

* * *

><p><strong>March 2021<strong>

"Avery says school is really really scary and I don't want to go to kindergarten."

"Trust me, middle school is the worst years, you still have your innocence. Now, remember, don't eat the food, Cheryl is bringing home a hobo lady tonight ."

"Yum!"

* * *

><p><strong>February 2028<strong>

"I got in! I got in! I got in!" Avery screamed at dinner table.

"I never doubted that you would get in to the Gotham ballet company for even a second", Richard joked from behind his laptop , going back to his hacking habits, already in the CIA, NSA, and other various networks.

"Come on Richard, you were betting with Noah $.50 if she wouldn't."

"I did it to make Noah happy, he is intent on terrorizing his sister," Richard deftly.

"Hello? Back to me! I'm going to be a dancer! A ballerina!" Avery screamed with joy.

"You see, graduating early from early college was the best choice you could have made."

* * *

><p><strong>November 2032<strong>

After sending Noah to bed after he finished up that one last game on his video game, Richard sat behind the laptop, looking through his latest hack, the Batcomputer. He didn't know why his hacker wanted to badly stay connected to that world that for over sixteen years was lost to him, but hacked into it nonetheless. He looked over the profiles of heroes, villains, and vigilantes old and new of Gotham, and the world, paying attention to what would've been his little brother, Damian Wayne. (And Bruce got married _miraculously _to Selina. They even had a daughter now, Olivia Martha Wayne. Richard had found out she liked to be called Liv.)

He smiled faintly, at the new Team, the new family. There was Supergirl/Kara Kent, Damian Wayne/Robin, Jai West/Kid Flash II, Iris West/Impulse II, and Lian Harper/Arrowette. Various decorated members of the Team were still covert operations, M'gnn, Conner, Kaldur, Tim, and Garfield. It was very well stocked to say the least. Richard wondered what they tasted like.

Richard shook his head. No. Eat.

Going through the various files, contingency plans, fail safes, and among other things, he somehow ended up on the MIA page. He scrolled down the page. What he saw made him choke on tears.

* * *

><p><strong>Name<strong>:

Richard John Grayson

**Appearance**:

Black Hair, Blue Eyes, 6"2

**Race**:

Caucasian/Romanian Gypsy

**Age**:

(When he/she Disappeared) 18

(Now) 34

**MIA** **Since**:

(Last Communication):

Mid-July 2016

(Last Trace):

Mid-September 2016

**Status**:

G

**Occupation**:

Nightwing

_SON_

* * *

><p>He just wouldn't give up, would he? Well, it made sense. Everyone comes back to life with those people, Wally, Jaybird...<p>

Richard sighed . The new Robin, Damian, was always hacking in and changing his status to DEAD, but Bruce always changed it back to MISSING.

The JLA computer files had DEAD.

Everyone else had DEAD.

The world had DIED.

Bruce's files humbly read MISSING.

* * *

><p>Sabrina Jade West was eight years old and lived in the suburbs of Central City with older twin siblings, Jai and Iris, and her parents, Wally and Artemis West. She was a quiet little girl who took after her mother in features, blond hair, dark skin, folded eyelids, the prime example of the American Melting Pot. Sabrina was very shy around people, thankfully, none of the heroes really ever paid attention to her. Jai and Iris got the attention, inheriting the super speed of their dad, while Sabrina was as normal as possible exactly like her mother, as far as everyone knew. She knew the other heroes didn't think of her much, except the Arrow Family and the Batclan, being normal themselves, plus the fact that Sabrina was friends with the secondary members of the families, Asia Harper and Olivia Wayne (Sabrina didn't hang out with Asia's older brother Elias much. He acted like he knew everything, even if he was only nine). Sabrina was outshined by her siblings, but it didn't really matter to her. One day she'd make a name for herself, just not today.<p>

But right now as she sat in the kitchenette with an apple juice and her hand-me-down dolls from Iris, Sabrina kept heard her mother and father angrily yelling over the phone. Iris and Jai were mentioned, plus Uncle Bart, and the word 'mauled' and 'unknown organism' came up all too often. Sabrina's mom was on the verge of calling up Sabrina's grandfather, while her dad pounded his fists on the table. It wasn't a happy scene to say the least.

Sabrina knew she had to be quiet since her parents told her no dolls in the kitchen, and the yelling of her parents were so loud. She didn't like it, not one bit. Being the intellectually advanced child she was, and knowing her parents wouldn't be checking up on her with all the commotion, Sabrina got off the chair that was placed near the counter and climbed up the stairs until she got to the attic, opened the door, and let the dust storage space conceal her.

Sabrina loved the attic, not because of the many relics that were stored up there, but because of the abundance of hiding places. She found her favorite and pulled out her shoebox filled with things her family had nearly thrown away, but she knew they'd want it later.

She pulled her favorite thing out, and aged and wrinkled photograph. Sabrina had another copy of this photo in her box, pristine and looking as if fresh from a print shop, but Sabrina like the worn one better. It seemed to have more emotion.

In the photo were two teenagers. The first one was a redheaded freckled speedster, smiling at the camera with a sheepish grin, someone who was overconfident and learned from mistakes, mostly the big ones.

Sabrina knew him as her dad.

The next man who had taken the photo had his arm out and smiling, a cheeky grin that Jai usually wore when one of his hair brained ideas worked. The man's deep blue eyes were staring at the camera with a strange intensity, like he didn't want you to forget him, he had messy black hair and just slightly darkened skin, suggesting a mixed ancestry.

Sabrina smiled, and flipped over the picture. Small neat yet somehow messy handwriting was on the back.

**Alfred would kill me if I didn't give you a copy. He says it looks like we still have our innocence. Asterous in the most sarcastic sense.**

**-Dick**

The little blonde faintly laughed, although she didn't know most of the words on the back, having memorized them after her father had told her. She had to look at the photo with awe. Friends that fit together so well like puzzle pieces, like brothers. She wished for a friend like that.

"_Daddy? Whose that? What happened to him?" the girl asked, finding the photo buried in boxes of old things on the quest for more hand-me-down dolls, something Iris never used._

"_That was my best friend, Mr. Richard Grayson. Everyone called him Dick though, hm, that was funny. Don't ask me why! Um, he would've been your Uncle too. Remember what I told you about that place the speedforce when I got stuck a long time ago before Iris and Jai? Well, after I got stuck there, Richard went on a little, um, time off. Your Great Uncle Bruce realized that Richard was really sick in his brain. They tried to find him, but they couldn't. I came back a week later, and I searched too. We only got security camera footage in South Carolina, and then he was gone forever."_

"_But didn't you look hard enough? Why can't ya' try again?"_

"_We tried, Sabrina. We tried. That was sixteen years ago"._

The wrinkled photo in her hands, the little girl got up from her place near the boxes and walked over to the window, looking at the faint traces of sunset. She held the photo to her heart.

All would be well. She knew it deep in her soul.

Her family would survive this 'disaster'.

Her uncle was alive somewhere, waiting to be found.

All would be well.

Sabrina had some calls to make. Maybe Olivia and Asia wanted to help her.

They were like mini Birds of Prey.

* * *

><p>"I shouldn't have let her go out on her own! My little baby!" Karen Beecher (the retired bumblebee) yelled out as she saw her daughter, Dana, sprawled out on the medical berth in the infirmary on the Watchtower.<p>

The poor thirteen year old girl had her right arm, left leg, right side of her face, and neck bandaged with layers of white gauze. Numerous cuts, bruises, and scratches still adorned her body that leaked thin traces of blood. The bandage on her neck was seeping through with blood, the scarlet red soaked the young child, whilst doctors upon doctors surrounded her.

The two divorcée parents Mal and Karen watched as their daughter was fighting for her life on the gurney.

The older Black Canary pulled back a hysterical Karen while Mal looked on with the near-retirement Batman behind him. The Black Canary turned to the frantic mother.

"Ms. Beecher, please know your daughter getting away from your watch and meeting with the Team was not your fault. Don't believe this mission didn't result in other casualties. Kid Flash and Arrowette are out of commission for weeks now. The teens took on the mission without our knowledge. It's no one's fault".

"My poor baby girl", Mal whispered, hand over his face.

"We keep losing blood! Get the clotting agent!" a doctor shouted.

"_That would kill her_", a woman said from the door.

All faces turned to the magician looking in uninvited to the scene.

"Zatanna", Batman hissed at the uninvited guest. The magician shuddered at his tuned down glare.

"You're Team has been mauled by a psychotic vampire. Dana is the only one who has been bitten, I feel the magic presence is darker around your child."

The witch took a shaky breath.

"Take out those blood transfusions and pour them in that child's mouth, _if you want her to live"._

* * *

><p><em><strong>4007 words.<strong>_

_**I have never written a four thousand word chapter before. Wow. Did you like this?**_

_**Just so you know, I'm kind of erasing Iris's pregnancy in season 2. I mean four speedsters on one team? WOW. Two sets of twin speedsters? WOAH.**_

_**Maybe I'll just make them like reserve members of the Team, no?**_

_**Also, in the the DC universe, Karen and Mal do get divorced. They never have kids though, so I pulled Dana from little out from there.**_

_**I am really upset with the Team I created, just because I don't want it to be girl infested like most future teams are. I try not to include OCs (This story is chock full of them, ARGH! PARADOX!) and any girls usually, sic I try not to be typical fangirl with Mary Sues lined up let and right. So, dear Readers, please excuse the crazy. Tell me more male characters if you think of any!**_


	3. The Intel

**Chapter iii:**

**The Intel**

* * *

><p>"How are we supposed to do this without any grownups?"<p>

The group of little reject heroes were huddling around Sabrina's desk in her room. Olivia was frowning, black hair messy and dark eyes narrowed. Elias was there, a look of boredom on his Thai face, while his sister Asia, his polar opposite with the red hair and light eyes, giggled with glee. You would have thought that with their rocky relationship Roy and Jade would have stopped at one 'surprise', especially when they were usually so mad at each other they didn't share a house most of the time. Surprisingly, Surprises (Har-Har, wordplay!) 2 & 3 appeared nearly consecutively.

Olivia was half of a Surprise. Her mom had plans.

Sabrina had the worn picture tacked up on the desk, everything else had been cleared off except for a glass jar with daisies painted on it that had a few pencils, pens, and a fuzzy eraser sticking out.

"It's easy!" Sabrina, clade in a purple and white polka dot sundress, told her fellow rejects. "We just need to pool our money! That's why I told you to bring it!"

Elias, in a black monster truck t-shirt a jean shorts, scoffed. "Seriously? I'm not giving you my money for nothing!"

Asia slapped her brother. "I took his even though he said he wouldn't."

"Asia!"

The redhead in the pink shirt and white dress growled, like really deep nearly demonic growl that is not normally heard from a seven-year old, and kicked her brother's foot.

"Be quiet! Don't you think Daddy would be really happy if we find his old best friend? We'd impress him big time!" the redhead's crazy voice shouted. She was balanced dangerously on the back of the chair, rocking back and forth.

Olivia cleared her throat. "I brought as much as I can without my dad getting suspicious. "

The girl pulled out her jar filled with rolled up bills. Sabrina made Elias pool his money first.

Total: $12.76

Next was pooling Asia:

$24.34

Adding Sabrina's:

$43.17

Olivia's given up and the total is:

$743.17

Olivia just sat with arms crossed in her white shorts and green shirt all wrinkled, while Elias finished counting the money with his 3rd grade math, the rest of the group staring at the mound with wide eyes.

"I told everyone I needed money for Mom's birthday gift and I told them to keep quiet. I already bought it, so no big deal. Jason gave me the most. And a stray cat. I named her Noodles."

Sure enough, when everyone turned to look at Olivia's bag, which was currently squirming all over the place. Sabrina nervously nudged it with her foot, flipping the flap over.

A skinny cat with barely enough fur to not look like a rat popped out the bag.

All it had was a green _eye. _ There was just a sealed slit in the place of its left eye. The cat stank.

"I'm giving her a bath soon." Olivia stated.

Sabrina laughed. "We are going to buy the stuff, and then we are giving that kitty a bath."

"What do we need buy with all _this?" _Elias said with disbelief, looking at the money.

"I've made a list", Asia told them, having the neatest penmanship. "I looked on Walmart's website."

"Everything I said?" Sabrina asked.

"All that and _more_."

Asia pulled out a list that was written on a sheet of blue lined paper. "We are going to need: A mini bulletin board, 56 pack Crayola markers, 64 GB flash drives for each of us….."

* * *

><p>Sure enough, Olivia, Sabrina, Asia, and Elias were wheeling two shopping cart through the many aisles of Walmart gathering up their items after being dropped off by Alfred. In the basket was already a wireless printerscanner/fax machine, the bulletin bird, glue, paper, cardstock, coloring supplies, loads of ink, the flash drives, and some $50 cameras. They still had $300 to burn through.

"Don't you think this is suspicious?" Elias whined, his head barely reaching above the handle of the shopping cart. In his cart, there was only Olivia sitting at the back with her satchel jean bag that was currently squirming around in her lap. Sabrina was pushing the other cart with bouncing ponytailed Asia had her hand on the cart and read her list, purple marker checking off the items as they went.

"We already have enough tablet computers, right Olivia?" Asia asked.

"Yeah, my dad has a couple in company storage. I can make up an excuse and easily get some." Olivia answered, holding on to the squirming bag. "I also got that mobile internet thing hack that I learned the other day, so we're good."

"We've got cameras, printers, crafts, bulletins, whiteboards, paper, and computers. What else is there?" Elias told the group, flip flops clapping with each step.

"I got an idea!" Sabrina said. "Asia, give Olivia the list. Come with me."

The other girl shrugged and gave the rich kid in aviator sunglasses the list. Olivia saluted and sat there with Elias while Olivia and her cousin went off looking for whatever it is that was needed.

Olivia's bag meowed.

"Your brother seriously gave you a stray cat and $300 bucks?" Elias asked.

Olivia whipped around and held her hand in the air with a look of sass on her face. "Excuse me, but I love my brother and his gifts. If he gives me a cat, no matter how scruffy and dirty, I will love it and keep it because my brother _loves me_."

Elias threw his hands up. "Okay! Whatever!"

The two kids stood there for a while, when Asia and Sabrina returned holding a very large bag with some seeds on it.

"We bought birdseed!"

* * *

><p>"Stop picking at your food."<p>

The '_food'_ that you would have thought would be on the plate was gone, all peas, potatoes, and pork finished and in the process of being digested, but the food being referenced was the clear glass cup filled with a sickening shade of scarlet that was next the plate of a blond haired and blue eyed teenager.

The adolescent was sitting at a table with his two 'parents', his ebony haired father, only a tad bit slightly older looking than sixteen years ago, at one end of the table and his nearly platinum blond mother on the other.

"Mămică, please. I'm not hungry", the Noah said as he pushed his glass away. "I don't like feeding _every_ time I eat regular food. It's annoying, and you two don't feed when we eat!"

Cheryl turned to Richard with a nod toward Noah. She'd dealt with their teenage son earlier, it was Richard's turn.

"Noah, we don't feed because we _hunt_", he answered curtly, deep blue eyes narrowed to a point that was borderline of being nearly shut. The batglare was something you kept with you always. His son was still far too young and inexperienced for the weekly act of finding their next supplementary meal.

However, Noah was technically a bat, and it came to a fact that he could hold his own to the demanding stare.

"_Tati!_" he whined, pulling right at the heartstrings of the orphan. Sure it was cruel, but you had a rebellious teenager who wasn't afraid of anything or any consequences.

Richard slightly opened his mouth, the tips of his fangs glinting in the dim light of the lamps. "Noah, stop trying to get out of this. _Finish_."

The blonde haired teen sighed, sitting with his elbow on the table and his head gripped with his hand.

And in a snap, there was the blonde haired blue eyed teen: although now there was the near spitting image of fifteen year old Richard, blue eyes gleaming, although a few minor differences were present.

"No shifting at the table, Noah", Cheryl snapped, eyes not even looking up from her glass tablet that displayed the online newspaper. Noah, pureblood as he was, had many talents which he used for personal gain, and shapeshifting was only one of his traits.

Richard grinned at his son's antics, then resumed to pull out his phone and clicked on some app.

"You're not leaving this table", Richard told him flatly.

Noah scoffed. "I'm not?"

He got up from his chair and pushed in his seat.

"I'm out from my chair."

The parents didn't look up, seemingly preoccupied.

Noah made his way to the door to the hallway entrance.

"I'm walking away."

"I'm down the hall."

"I'm going up the stairs."

"I'm at the top of the stairs."

"I'm going to the door to my room."

"I'm in my room!"

"I'm-OH FUDGE!

A loud bang was heard, along with a bunch of thumping, squeaking on wood, and finally Noah came back into view of the dining table, being dragged by some invisible force by his shirt.

"Thank you Cheryl", Richard said, not even lifting his eyes.

Cheryl had a hand raised from her tablet, making a fist.

"You're welcome", she said resting her hand.

Noah growled, but didn't protest as he carried himself to the table, sat down, and grabbed the glass cup. He sloshed it around, his now-deep blue eyes turning a shade of glowing red as the scrape of fangs was heard on the glass, along with a series of gulps.

"Finished", said Noah, the classic trail of blood trailing from the right corner of his mouth. He looked up, then waited for his parents to begin talking.

"Dick, love, there was major burn down in Metropolis's financial districts. The whole 'super' family was there."

"Krypto, Kara, Clark and Conner all in the same place? How nice." There is an obvious hint, just a speck, of sarcasm.

The table was silent for a few moments more.

"Dami was off on his own again, the rascal. Pro'ly got shot fitting about ten times. The wonders of Kevlar, huh?"

Richard solemnly nodded, returning to his work on his phone. There was a deadly silence.

The woman then took her glass tablet and began to gather up the dishes. She looked up Noah and nodded to Richard.

"Your father wants to speak to you."

Noah huffed and folded his arms. "What is it Tati?"

His father eyes narrowed, getting up from the table. He motioned his son with a hand. Noah's stomach was in knots. This wasn't good. Dad was broody today.

Noah got up from the table unsurely, pushing his chair in and wiping the bloodstain off his mouth. He followed his dad into the living room, tense and unsure of what he wanted, running a mental list of all the stupid things he'd done the past month. His father rarely spoke to him when he was in trouble. Letting the agonizing suspense of punishment doing all the verbal actions was a strong point of Noah's 'father'.

Entering the room, Richard was looking out the window, his eyes far. He was thinking. There was no usual playful grin, nothing that would usually set the young boy at ease. His father was now dark and killing, something Noah's mother had said wasn't the real him usually. It came along with need for the scarlet life flow, something that changed everyone.

"_Sit,_" he snapped.

Noah does as he was told and sat on the couch. He practically quaking. His Dad was antsy, anxious even. Looking out on to the crashing waves gave him no rest.

"They're near", Richard whispers, looking out at the lights across the water. Whoever it was, the thought of them made Richard run over his fangs with his tongue, the sharp smell of blood evident to Noah as the razor sharp teeth so easily cut through everything.

As if shaking himself from a daze, back to his smiling self. Noah knew not to mention his father's dark spells. He'd pay for it.

His father smiling now, stood before him. Noah scooted over as his father sat down next to him, seemingly a new person.

"There is another one like me."

Noah blinked, before scoffing. "Human to _us?_" There was no secret he wasn't particularly a 'human-vampire all day every day!' kind of person, save for his father.

"Yes, Noah", Richard sighs. "I knew her family. _Before_, though."

Before. That was something that Noah knew nothing of. It was B.C.: Before Cheryl. Richard never mentioned it, although Noah could have brought it up in numerous conversations. Of course, Noah knew what the public knew, his father _did_ have a famous face. He was Richard Grayson: Roma, _then _ward of Bruce Wayne, dead for sixteen years. Noah's dad for sixteen years. There were so many things he didn't know, and he wasn't trying to. Cheryl said it was a very touchy subject.

"So you did," Noah replied.

"She was turned by Anatole, your Uncle by your real father-"

"He's dead. He was a stupid twit and you know that!" Noah snaps. The Prodeax that was Noah's sperm donor was long gone, dead before his eighth birthday.

Richard glared, and Noah quieted.

"You need to go meet up with Avery in Gotham. Then you two need to find her. The poor girl is covenless and needs help," Richard told his son. "You two will need to learn some stuff I know before you would know to get around to her."

Noah shudders, but does nothing. His father is above him, and he must listen to him.

"I need to show you something."

Richard gets up and walks out of the room, Noah following him closely behind. They were going upstairs to his father's room.

Opening the door, Richard pulled out a box from under the bed. It looked like a briefcase, but not quite.

Richard motioned Noah over and his son came to his side as he unlocked the box. Opening it, there was a suit of black with a blue bird on its crest. Richard unraveled the rest, taking out his escrima sticks along with it.

"I was Nightwing."

* * *

><p>"WHAT THE HELL DAD?"<p>

Avery was yelling into her cellphone while Noah sat on her couch in her Gotham apartment. The bush of brown hair attached to the hazelnut girl flopping all over the place. Noah had noticed that whenever Avery was anger, her curls tended to go crazy all over the place. It was amusing to watch.

"So like, never in sixteen years did you even want to tell me about this? Like at all? What kind of father are you?"

Noah waited as Avery listened, and decided to try turning on the T.V. Nothing good was on, just the news. Terrorists, Justice League, crashing Boeing planes, ransoms, Superman, Flash, explosions, war, and gas prices.

Noah looked up as more yelling happened. Avery had to be pissed. You weren't prepared for the day you were told you're estranged father's family were not only related to a rich powerful business tycoon that owned corporate America but also you were technically related to the Batman and his associates.

"Yes I've realized there was another human-vampire around here-"

"So I'm just supposed to get up and-"

"Yes Dad I know but I have rehearsals and the company is going on tour in a few weeks-"

"I know. I'm going to meet up with old Uncle Jack in England. He's eighty and still at it, I just can't believe-"

"Yes Bucharest too. Where else? But to the point-"

"How am I supposed to deal with that-?"

"She's sixteen! Dad I'm twenty-eight."

"Well yeah really twenty though-"

"Dad stop yelling!"

"Fine! Okay! Bye! I got to go or Noah is going to break my T.V!"

Avery clicked her phone off with a giant huff and set it back down on to the counter. She turned around on the spinning chair that was connected to the counter, giving Noah an Avery-tweaked Bat Glare.

"That was disastrous. Heavy on the 'dis'."

"Shut up Noah."

Avery got off the chair and started searching her cabinet next to the small flat screen. She rummaged through the books, pulling out a pair of keys.

"Noah?" she asked, nodding towards him. "We need to look like siblings, remember?"

Her little brother groaned and snapped his fingers. The bushy haired girl was replaced with a dark ebony haired woman, round haunting blue eyes staring right at him.

"What happened to regular Noah?" Avery asked.

"This is regular Noah", said the younger brother, and smirk on his face.

"Daddy's little boy", she said walking away.

"Put a sock in it!" Noah yelled at her. He got up from the couch.

"You are. He told you first that he was a flipping superhero that went missing sixteen years ago! Honestly I thought it was just the circus, but now all those karate training and self-defense stuff…..Oh god he was grooming us for this!"

"I enjoy sparring", Noah said defensively.

Avery slapped her head. "How are you acting so calm? Dad just told you he was an ex-superhero!"

"I find it really cool. There is also a good chance I can become a superhero too, and I'd think that be pretty cool. I've had traumatic experiences too, you know. I could try tracking down the Vampire Hunters that killed my biological father, then rip out their innards!"

Avery shuddered. "Your father was killed right in front of you, yet you didn't even care that much. You only cried for around a week. I would've balled my eyes out for a month."

Noah glared. "That man was not my father. He did not raise me. He was more of a good friend. Dad is my father." He growled. "You were emotionally abused. Left in an attic all alone and never was a scrap of food given to you, according to Mom".

The crack of a slap across Noah's face pierced the silence of the room.

"We don't speak of that", Avery hissed at her brother, whose left cheek was reddening.

"I swear I am going to tell Mom!"

"Do it, and I'll tell her who really fed the cookies to the elephant!"

"You are making NO SENSE!"

The two stopped and glared at each other, before Avery brushed her newfound silky hair out of her face.

"What's her name?"

"Dana Duncan".

* * *

><p>"Richard, love?" Cheryl asked, walking down the street in the evening, lamp post flickering with a hazy yellow light. The only footsteps were that were heard was hers, the last pair now hidden in a bush at the corners of the next intersection. He'd been her meal.<p>

The lost bird however, was behind her, but he was apparently too good for footsteps.

Richard followed behind her, in a black coat that hung loosely on him. He responded with a mere hum of a response, following the woman in front of him, looking at her lazily. Her creamy white hair was down, and at its near waist length it billowed around her in the wind eerily. The white dress she had on, although pretty at first, was now thoroughly splattered in blood on its front. Her mouth was also trailing the red, as he could see as she turned her red golden eyes on him. Sure, she wasn't the only serial killer looking person on the street, Richard hadn't exactly been careful with his own meal, his own face sprinkle with blood flecks.

"What are you thinking?" Cheryl mused, reaching up to hold his cheek. She blinked slowly, trying to see what was going on in his mind, to no avail. Richard had long built up a resistance to her telepathic abilities. Sighing, Cheryl rubbed his face with her thumb, smearing the bits of blood near the line by his mouth. Richard hummed again, leaning his head on her hand.

"I'm totally wishing I was whelmed", he whispered. "I've set Avery on some mission that could possibly reveal that I'm still alive, all because I owed _them_. Noah knows about _Before_ now, and he's probably going to beg me for a chance to become a hero-"

"Which I wouldn't mind, as I've said numerous times. Heaven knows he needs to get off that blasted phone all day and do something other than back flipping over the dinner table and swinging from the trees like a monkey", Cheryl answered. "Think for a second Richard. Bludhaven does need a hero. After all these years too!" Cheryl told him firmly, poking Richard square in his chest with every word she exaggerated in her English accent.

Richard shook his head. "You don't understand. Ever since I 'died' Bludhaven became sort of like Bruce's territory, but he leaves it to the side like some kind of shrine. No hero is to enter it, at all. It's an unsaid rule. If a new vigilante pops up, Bruce would get suspicious, investigate it, find Noah, and eventually I'm going to pop up somewhere or other in the scenario!" he ended up yelling.

Cheryl waved her finger up to his lips. "Now, this is _Noah,_ our Noah. Raised by Richard Grayson, one of the best Vampiric Bounty Hunters in all of the Vampiric Kind, the first human-to-vampire ever elected to council, not to mention that this was a Flying Grayson, one of the last of his kind. Not _the_ last though, not anymore"

Richard laughed. "I much rather tell old Haly that I'd let Noah work at the circus like he offered."

Cheryl raised her eyebrows. "Still an option also", she told him, trying to put on her best poker face.

Richard gave her one look, then bursted out laughing.

"I can't you serious when you're covered in dinner", he told her.

Cheryl smiled. "Well I apologize for being so distracting…" she said, eyes moving Richard's face to his fangs.

"Did someone not drink enough?" she whispered.

Richard squeezed his eyes shut and stepped away from Cheryl abruptly. He shook his head as if try to rid himself of something that was stuck on him, but his red eyes were visible as tiny slits.

"I. Ate." he hissed defensively as Cheryl stepped toward him.

As she stretched out her hand to touch his face, Richard's eyes opened a sickening shade of crimson. He stepped forward, then rested his head on Cheryl's collarbone, barely nicking the skin with his growing fangs.

"I hate that you do this to me," he whispered, before his fangs dove into Cheryl's neck.

* * *

><p>An aged man, good ole Jack Haly, was sitting at his desk at his rarely used home near the New York City. His circus was on a one week break while Haly would do the paperwork for the next tour, performers, animals, transportation, booking shows, and all of the sort. He was always fairly fast at finishing the papers, but he took his time. This tour would be one of last, his age catching up to him. He didn't even attend all of the shows now, his sons working on announcing them when Haly felt too ill. He needed to set out the deeds and such, giving ownership of the circus to <em>someone.<em>

After the Grayson's accident, the circus had fallen from glory and back to a small local menagerie of acrobats and animals. After years, and he meant _years_, the circus had been restored to its former glory, playing gigs in London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Victoria, you name it. Sadly time caught up as well, and old Haly knew he couldn't enjoy most of the newly returned glory days.

Shuffling through his dusty office, Jack eased his old bones into his chair. He'd really finished. How much would he miss this?

Looking around, he reviewed his schedule. He got out a little Sticky Note, and under the London folder he wrote down a little note to himself.

_Meet with Avery + Noah. Ask Dick if either of 2 could have a one night perform._

Haly, being the circus man he is, knew that the world wasn't just human. There were those acts that really _inhuman_. He'd seen modern mythology first hand, and the lines were sometimes blurred with reality and fantasy. Haly had understood Richard's situation _completely, _comforting the acrobat after he had shown up like a ghost nearly three years after his 'death' and nearly made Haly have a heart attack. There were many old man hugs.

Haly remained a close family friend, and was the go-to babysitter for Noah and Avery. Haly didn't know how many pictures he had framed of baby Noah or kiddie Avery while they washed elephants, held lion cub, kissed tigers, or were up there, soaring on the trapeze, just like their father. Those kids had their childhood played out like their father's (minus the parental death accident) and had become quite circus knowledgeable.

If only Richard would let them perform.

Noah and Avery were especially gifted in the art of entertaining the masses with their flying. The swung like they had done it for centuries, they were highly gifted. Richard, on the other hand, refused anything that included public performance. Haly understood, but also put it as a waste of talent. Why not show everyone how amazing these kids were?

Eventually Avery was allowed tours with ballet performances for her troupe (Haly had to admit, those dainty feet amazed him) and Noah remained visiting as often as possible. Haly didn't care that those two had a taste for blood, they were still…erm…beings.

As Haly reviewed his notes, something out of the corner of his eye darted past the door. It was short, shadowy, and apparently inexperienced at the art of being a Bat. One of them.

It was behind his chair now, and Haly had to admit, it's attempts at sneaking up people was actually rather well developed, but then again for the past thirteen years Haly had been visited by not one, not two, but three, Bats on a weekly basis.

"Get outta there. You're the youngest Wayne kid aren't you?"

Haly was often visited by the vigilantes, who knows why. They questioned him, then left. He'd been visited by every single one except for red helmet guy, and chances are red helmet guy wasn't going to show up, according to the littlest bird that was practically a bundle of parental frustration and Assassin's Creed.

A small and skinny little Caucasian girl with green eyes and black hair glided out the shadows, with very much the grace of head Bat, but by the way she walked, the kid seemed very catty.

"Nothing less than what I expect from you", said the eight year old. The eight year old kid. _They EIGHT year old kid._

Haly grunted. "Heard that on the T.V.?"

The kid nodded.

"Its cooler were the detective says it".

Haly grunted. "Whya here?"

The kind blinked, as if asking him if he was seriously talking to her like that. Of course this kid had to have an already immeasurable amount of respect considering her parents, and she was probably used to it just as that.

"My dad told me about you. You know things about us alotta people don't," said the girl. Her eyes were slit into near thin lines. Yes, there was defiantly cat in her.

"Get to the point kid", Haly told her sharply. He didn't have anything against her, really, but she just unnerved him. She wasn't _normal_ weird, it was a _threatening_ weird.

The girl walked around his desk, picking up a picture frame. _No_, not the picture frame. That had Noah and Avery's photo, when Avery was twelve and Noah was four. The two of them were being 'watched' by the elephants, Noah held in Elinore the elephant's trunk while Avery was napping, _napping, _on top Zitka head. Noah looked so much like Richard if that photo, and so did Avery. Haly'd made a promise never to disclose where the family was, but the kid…

She set the photo down precisely, agonizing the panic in Haly's gut. "Who are they?" the kid, her name was Olive, somethin' like that, asked slyly. She was studying the little kid's faces, and looking at the date mark at the corner. _Ten years ago._

Haly grunted, trying to show signs of anxiety. "My niece and nephew", he said flatly. Not a lie.

The girl sighed, seemingly changing her act. "Listen, Mr. Haly," the kid said, visibly different, "My family isn't happy right now, and some of my _friend's_ families aren't either. Everyone thinks my brother is dead, except my Dad."

The girl sat down on one of the chairs by Haly's desk.

"I never got to meet my brother. I want to though. I know he's out there. Everyone thinks I'm crazy. I just want to meet him".

Haly looked at the kid, Olivia. He grunted. He wasn't one for sob stories, but maybe she could help in the convincing for the act, if she could get past the fact of the bloody little problem.

"You didn't hear this from me…"

* * *

><p>"I told my dad I was at Sabrina's house," Olivia said, joining the usual group of children near a train station in Gotham city. Zetas were too risky and could disclose their location or whereabouts.<p>

"I told my mom I was at Asia's" said Sabrina.

"We told them we were at your house Olivia", said Asia grabbing a grumpy Elias.

"The alibis are set then," said Sabrina, grabbing the tickets she paid for. (With sunglasses wearing Olivia's money) She lead the way on to the train and up on the Superliner Car, giggling with her friends as they climbed up the stairs to the second level and got to their seating/bedding.

They had booked a bedroom suite, which was really two of the compartments with two beds with a door in between them. It cost around two thousand dollars, but Olivia seemed to have some never-ending reservoir of money.

"COOL!" Asia screamed running around the compartments. "THIS IS AWESOME AND NOBODY GONNA TELL ME NOTIN!"

"You are still taking a shower and brushing your teeth", Elias huffed, although clearing enjoying himself pushing every button possibly.

"Buzzkill", said Olivia, taking out her carry on and pulling out the work supplies. (At least what could fit in a backpack, no way a bulletin board was in there)

"Elias and Asia are going to sleep in the left room, me and Sabrina in the right", said Olivia, who was very experienced with these kinds of endeavors. She was pulling the tablets out of her bag and placed him in the four places on the fold out table.

"We have to start our mission!" Asia yelled.

"Whoop", Elias said in monotone.

All the girls giggled, Elias somewhat smiled, and all were happy.

But they all knew that they were so grounded when this was over.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah so I guess this is going to be a half a month to a monthly thing. I'll try to update sooner, but LIFE. I promise I won't give up.<strong>

**This is the longest chapter I've ever written. 5122 words of story?! *Dances around, attacked by new puppy, still dances around***

**REVIEW your thoughts and what should happen next.**


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